Your garage door’s got quite a few bits and pieces, and they all work together to make the garage door function. So if you’re facing a problem with your garage door, or you’re trying to do a repair yourself, you should probably know what all those thingamajigs are called and a clue about how they cooperate. We’ve put together this need-to-know mini glossary on overhead garage door parts:
Astragal: The weather stripping, or bottom seal of your garage door. This is super important for keeping weather, debris and vermin out of your garage, and it also preserves energy efficiency by stopping drafts.
Backroom: The opening clearance inside the garage that you’ll need for the door to operate correctly. It’s measured from the back of the horizontal track to the top of the door.
Belt Drive: The door moves via a rubber belt. This offers quieter operation than chain drives.
Cable: The cables of your garage door are at either side of the door. They work to lift and lower the door via a pulley system.
Chain Drive: The door moves via a chain. This offers lower-maintenance, longer-life operation than belt drives.
Clearances: The spaces you’ll need overhead, on either side, and in front of the garage door for it to operate smoothly without interference.
Cycles: A cycle is one time of lifting and lowering the garage door. Torsion springs, extension springs, and openers all have a cycle life.
Extension springs: Springs that sit on either side of a garage door and use tension to help the opener move the door.
Gauge: Thickness of steel. The lower the number, the thicker the steel. Gauge affects weight and durability of a door panel.
Hinges: The brackets that connect the panels of a sectional garage door.
Horizontal track: The track that runs on the ceiling from the center of the top of the garage door to the garage door opener motor. The trolley sits in this track. The other 2 horizontal tracks run on either side of the door at the ceiling and connect to the vertical tracks.
Insulation: Foam fillings you can reinforce your door panels with to increase energy efficiency.
Jackshaft: for side-mounted garage door openers, uses leverage to interact with the torsion spring.
Photo-electric sensor: Also called photo eyes, these are the small sensors at the bottom of each side of the door frame that sense motion to cue the automatic reverse safety feature of a garage door opener.
Rollers: Steel or nylon ball bearings or wheels attached to the side of the garage door panel via a small arm, and set inside the tracks to move the garage door inside the track balanced and smoothly.
Screw Drive: Operates via a trolley and steel rod that operates the motor. They are quieter than chain drives and lower-maintenance than both belt and chain drives due to less moving parts.
Torsion springs: Compact springs set at the center top of the inside of the garage door, at one end of the central horizontal track. Uses torque to help the opener lift and lower the overhead door.
Trolley: The trolley carriage sits in the center horizontal track and guides the door up and down. Is also the mechanism for manual operation.
Vertical track: The two tracks running from the floor to the top of the garage door on either side of its frame. They connect to the horizontal tracks on the ceiling.
Wind Load: How heavy of gust and sustained wind the door can hold before being structurally compromised and/or coming loose.